One More Question XXI: God, It's Such a Drag When You Live in the Past
Baby, even the losers get lucky sometimes.
Optional Soundtrack for Your Listening Pleasure
This Sunday thing I do is called “One More Question,” as I planned to use it to tie up loose ends from Friday’s edition. With a couple of exceptions, it’s been a space where I’ve offered some social commentary that has nothing to do with grief, loss, death or anything else Dirt Nap-related.
But, I did have a question that I asked of Ryan Nanni and Jeff Pearlman that ended up not fitting into Friday’s post, so allow me to empty the notebook here.
As I said on Friday, I grew up as a New York Yankees fan during the 1980s and 1990s, a veritable drought for successful baseball for this storied club. Between 1989 and 1992, the Yankees lost more games than they won and pissed away the storied careers of players like Rickey Henderson, Don Mattingly, and Dave Winfield. While being a Yankees fan today often earns you a bandwagon title from people, some of us remember the low days.
Going to St. Bonaventure University didn’t help. I got conditioned to watching losing basketball between 1995 and 1999. The spring before I arrived, the Bonnies made their first postseason in over a decade. The spring after I left — 2000 — it earned its first NCAA tournament bid since 1978. But, the Bonnies were my lovable losers. Basketball players were my floormates and I stayed in contact with a few players well after graduating.
So, my question to
and — two sports media figures of regard — was this: Do you think there is a point when fans get numb to the losing and don’t feel the loss anymore? I’m thinking, for instance, the New York Jets or Chicago White Sox or Prairie View A&M during their historic streak.Pearlman: “No, but I think losing becomes part of your identity. Like, if the Jets started winning, I think—weirdly—it wouldn't actually be that fun. Like, the losing IS the thing. And I don't think you become numb. You become resigned. Like, it always hurts. But it's more like, ‘What did you expect? It's the Jets.’”
Nanni: “Assuming those fans don't check out, I suspect the pain and anger simply shifts. As individual losses become less distressing because they're expected (and maybe even helpful, if you root for a team where tanking is a strategy), the broader experience becomes more frustrating. Is it better to have hope and see it dashed or, in the case of the teams deep in the losing basement, be stripped of any hope at all?”
Things I’ve Consumed Recently…
Book I’m Reading: I’m taking a short book break.
Non-Political Thing(s) I’ve Read Recently Worth Sharing:
Val Kilmer Shined Brightest When He Wasn’t the Leading Man (
/): I’m not sure we appreciated how good of an actor Val Kilmer was, thanks to the rumors of him being difficult on the set and some real stinkers (Batman, anyone?). His portrayal of Doc Holliday in Tombstone defined that film and consider the range of roles he portrayed through his career.Digital Amnesia and Erosion of Memory (
): My wife, a high school teacher, reminds me of how we learned math and the teachers telling us, “You won’t always have a calculator at your disposal.” Except now everyone does. And, thanks to Google, you no longer have to remember anything. That’s not good.Are People Bad At Their Jobs....or Are The Jobs Just Bad? (
): Think of this the next time you order on GrubHub or UberEats.
Political Thing(s) I’ve Read Recently Worth Sharing:
Happy "Liberation Day" To All (Idiots) Who Celebrate (
): I hope you have stocked up on chianti.‘People Will Die’—RFK Jr. Guts America’s Health Bureaucracy (
): I spent most of my adult life working on the Alzheimer’s cause. Yesterday, HHS hollowed out much of the preventative, surveillance and research infrastructure working on it. But, yeah, #MakeAmericaHealthyAgain.
Coming This Friday
My friend Kate Lewis Torok joins us with memories of her sister Laura, who was robbed from this world far too early in her life.
Trying Something New
Dirt Nap is free and will remain free, but I want to try something out in the name of community. The big thing on Substack right now is to add a link to Buy Me A Coffee, the micropayment system where you can tip a creator if you think their work is worth it. The button below, which you will see on future posts, takes you there. I’m not going to keep any of the money. Every four to six weeks, I’m going to take whatever is collected, match it out of pocket and donate it to an organization adjacent to the topics we cover here. I’ll announce the results when I do it. If you feel so moved, click the button and toss in a couple of shekels.
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Thanks for the plug, Jared. :)